Data collection devices are a class of device used to collect, process, and transfer data to a data processing system. Data collection devices may be provisioned with one or more of a variety of data collection sub-systems including: imager, laser scanner, RFID scanner, and magnetic media scanner. The data collection sub-systems generally scan some data bearing device such as dataforms (e.g. barcodes), magnetic stripes, and RFID tags. The collected data is processed within the data collection device by a processor and associated circuits. The type and amount of processing may vary depending on the class of device, but usually includes, at a minimum, decoding the output of the data collection sub-system to generate a string of data corresponding to the encoded data contained within the data bearing device. The decoded data may then be transferred using any number of wired and wireless communication paths, such as 802.11, cellular, IrDA, USB, serial and parallel paths.
Generally, data collection devices can be thought of as falling into three classes; fixed, mobile, and handheld. Fixed devices are generally incorporated into stationary objects such as point of sale systems (examples include transaction terminals and image kiosks) and walls (examples include RFID tracking devices). Mobile devices generally have similar electronic configurations to fixed devices, but are mechanically designed to be mounted on movable objects, such as carts and fork lifts. Finally, hand held devices are designed to be carried around by a user (examples include portable data terminals (PDTs), and bar code scanners).
Hand held data collection devices are used in a variety of activities including delivery, security, trucking, and warehousing. Some of these activities place the user of the data collection device in harm's way. For example, the security business by definition involves a professional placing him or herself in harm's way. While other types of activities may not involve the direct threat of harm, many take the user to out of the way places where obtaining help may prove difficult. The present inventors have recognized a need for apparatus and methods to improve the security of users of mobile and hand held data collection devices.